The Case for Weathering the Manufacturing Slump

The parallels between this November and the one in 1998 are striking, providing some hope for the economy in 2016.

By

Gene Epstein

December 5, 2015

“The U.S. manufacturing sector continued its steady decline in November, with the non-manufacturing sector now ‘carrying’ the domestic economy,” reported MarketNews International.

The news item could have referred to November 2015, but was actually about November 1998. The parallels between the two Novembers are striking. In fact, the November of 17 years ago looked worse, even though overall economic performance turned out to be far better than is likely this time around.